Suggestions on Excursions (Western Caribbean - Inspiration)

[lawtyger]

We are taking a 7 day cruise on the Inspiration (out of Tampa) to the Western Caribbean going to the following ports:

 

Grand Cayman,

Costa Maya,

Cozumel,

Belize City

 

If anyone has recently been here, we'd love to hear your excursion suggestions and recommendations.

 

We are looking more for snorkeling, swimming, biking, hiking, tubing, etc. activities. . . NOT really city tour or shopping suggestions.

 

Thanks

[jennraycruise]

when are you crusin the inspiration lawtyger we ar egoing next week

 

Jen and Ray's First Cruise together. Inspiration

[Jasonsterling]

In Grand Cayman the No Brainer Tour is the Sting Ray swim. It was a little crowded the last time I went but still great fun and really exciting. A boat takes you about 45 minutes off of Grand Cayman and you are allowed to swim with and feed the sting rays for around 30 mins.

 

In Cozumel I've only done the Maya Ruins tour of Tulem. Good if you like to hike but it takes a long time to get there and most of your day in that port will be taken up. Beautiful sight however and there was a small beach there were you could swim around some if you wanted.

 

Hope this helps

 

Sensation Feb 2002

Conquest Feb 2003

Elation Sept 2003

 

Destiny- May 2004!!!

[lawtyger]

That was helpful info.

 

Since initially posting, I came across some suggestions to check out the "port" forums. Perfect place to read about what to do and what not to do and who to do (or not) it with.

[cantw82cruise]

Sting ray city in the Caymans is very neat, snorkeling there is also very good. I have snorkeled in Cozumel twice, very disapointed both times (no reef). I hear the snorkeling is very good in Belize. We were just in Costa Maya did not do a tour there. Hope this helps a little. Have a great time.

 

Paradise (Carnival) 1999

Victory (Carnival) 2000

Destiny (Carnival) 2001

Legend (Carnival) 2002

Pride (Carnival) 2003

Miracle (Carnival) 2004

 

[lawtyger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jennraycruise:

when are you crusin the inspiration lawtyger we ar egoing next week

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Jenn (and Ray). . . hope you enjoy the cruise. I'm sure you will have better things to do upon your return, but if you get a second, post something about what excursions you decided to do. Have you booked anything yet?

[lawtyger]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bubblez:

Easy choices:

 

Belize: http://belizecruiseexcursions.com/CaveTubingBelize.htm it was our favorite excursion, they are excellent!!!

 

Grand Cayman: We really enjoyed stingray city and I would recommend a catamaran trip, you get to sail as well. http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com/CaptainBryan.htm<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

I've read good things about X-Strean and at this moment are leaning towards them in Belize.

 

Still unsure what Sting Ray trip to take. My fiance has been on one, but I'm not sure which. Thanks for the link to CaptainBryan, we'll check that out also.

 

Cozumel, we are leaning towards snorkeling at Dzul-Ha. Apparently this is the place to go as far as snorkeling goes (otherwise, I hear Cozumel snorkeling leave much to be desired)

[tdms1324]

Paradise beach in Cozumel was really nice. It had a lot to offer for free including snorkeling equipment. If you go to the far end of the roped off area, there are some coral formations with some really neat fish. I saw a star fish the size of a dinner plate.

 

I did the Stingray City the first time I went to Grand Cayman. I really liked that a lot. This time I did Snuba. Snuba itself is a really cool thing to do, but I wasn't that impressed with what we saw underwater. It would be an awesome experience if it were done somewhere prettier.

 

Cave tubing in Belize is a must do. I went through Reggies and had a great time, but I've heard good things about xtreme also. I would not want to do it with the ship though.

 

In Costa Maya I went to the nearby fishing village. I love that place and have gone both times when I was on the Inspiration. The beach is beautiful and the drinks are cheap!

 

Now that I covered all of the ports out of order!!....I hope this helps. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

 

Kristin

 

1/25/04 Inspiration

4/25/04 Inspiration Part II

[HOSKI]

GC - Soto cruises stingray snorkel tour

Belize - ruins tour

Cozumel - Chacknaab (spelling)

Costa Maya - ruins tour

 

All booked on own.

 

Fascination 1997 Destiny 2000

Victory 2000 Sensation 2001

Norway 2002 Legend 2002

NCL Dawn 2003 Inspiration 2003

Victory 2004 Holiday 2004

[OCruisers]

We had the BEST time in Costa Maya!

 

Took a taxi ($5 pp round trip) to Majahaul and spent the at a beach bar directly on the water! If you have a minute, you might enjoy reading this review in the ports of call section under Costa Maya:

 

Majahaul OnOurOwn ~ the little fishing village (click for review)

 

Happy Sailing!

[cmez]

Cozumel - Fury Catamaran sail & snorkel - We did it on our Pride cruise back in 2002, and had a blast! We snorkeled for about an hour and then they took us to a private beach for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing!! We're planning on doing it again on the Conquest this fall.

 

Belize - Go cave tubing with Reggie! This was one of the best excursions we have ever done! The city is not very pretty to look at, but once you get out into the jungle and Jaguar Paw Resort, it's absolutely beautiful!

 

We hiked through the jungle with one of Reggie's tour guides for about 45 minutes. The trek wasnt that bad, just make sure you have old tennis shoes. It was hot and humid, but once you hit that cool clear water.... Ahhhh! So refreshing!!

 

The second cave is awesome! A must see!

 

Grand Cayman, will be there on Conquest this fall, thinking about the Stingray swim.

 

 

Lorrie

Official Countdown to Conquest!

 

 

Paradise 9/03

Pride 9/02

Fantasy 5/00

Sensation 3/97

 

[judyf]

My review on the ports sailing on Inspiration 04-04-04.

 

Ports:

 

Grand Cayman: We booked a stringray tour on our own with Soto’s, I booked way back in Sept. before the price went up. We paid $20.00 pp it’s now $24.00 pp and it’s a great deal at that price. We had no problem getting right off the ship. Our tour was at 8:50 a.m. island time, GC was 1 hour behind ship time. We looked around a little where we got off the ship. I went to Hard Rock Café and the Harley shop before the tour just in case we didn’t have time after and it’s a good thing I did.

 

We all met where Soto’s told us to, it was easy, no problems and the guide was there waiting for us. We get in a nice AC van and we are off to the location. This was my first time to snorkel and I did bring my own gear and just used Soto’s fins. First stop was at a place they called the aquarium. I got the hang of it pretty quick saw lots of colored fish and coral. Second stop was the Coral Reef. This location had many boats and people, our guide that was filming the event told us to follow him. He went down and brought an eel out fro us all to see. It was great. Third and last stop was the Strinray Sandbar. I was glad to be on smaller tour, we had like 20-25 people and some of the other ships had two decks and were crowded. With the small group, we got individual attention. The guides took our underwater cameras and took many pictures for us. We got to hold the stringrays and kiss them many times. The water is so clear you can see the stringrays coming from far away.

 

The only thing that we encountered that was a little upsetting was when it was all over we were the last to get off the boat, we were in the back. What they did was just load the van as everyone walked off the boat. The first van got full and left. Now we’re waiting in the parking lot for a van it’s like 1:25 ish and I was getting worried cause our last tender was 2:00 p.m. I kept asking where the van was, the workers called the owner (Kerry) who was driving the van and said she would be right there. She arrived about 1:50 p.m. at this time we were a little upset, first island, tour on our own and we were a running late. We did arrive at the pier around 2:00 p.m. and there was a line to get back on and many people joined the line long after we were in it. We got back on the ship I think about 3:00 p.m. I must add to not let this worry you to book this tour, Kerry learned something from this experience. Our ship was the earliest to leave and Kerry said she would make sure in further tours that they check which ship the guests are on and load the earliest leaving on the first van. I would make sure you tell them on the boat what time your last tender is and let them know you need to be on the first van and you should have no problem.

 

We did but the video for I think $54.00 and it will be mailed to our home address. This is a must do for your first visit to GC.

 

Costa Maya: I really enjoyed this port. One thing that was nice was the time arriving at the port, 11:00 a.m. It gave you time to take in the activities the evening before and not have to get up super early. This was the only port that we docked at and it was a pleasure! We walked right off the ship, no lines, no delays, it was nice. We looked around the pier area, the merchants here are real pushy. I did buy a bracelet for $10.00 that started off at I think $30.00. We saw some entertainers right in this area and there’s plenty of shops.

 

We found a horseback riding booth, I think the name of the one I found was Water Marina or something like that. I couldn’t find the one we were looking for Mayawal Tours. I got the price down to $40.00 pp no lunch included. This was fine with us, cause I wasn’t crazy about the Italian place that the other tour went to, I wanted to try the local food. We were giving a tour pass and directions to the cab, $3.00 going and $2.00 to return plus tip. We get right into a cab no problem and the worker with our tour company told the driver where we were going. We arrive in town and we show him our tour pass and he brings us back to a place where we saw horses. It was a really nice beach bar area. We pay and tipped the driver and he’s off, we walk in and show the women are tour passes and she tells us, I have horses but these are not my passes. Oh boy!! Now we need to walk back to the area where the cab should have dropped us off. It wasn’t really far but it was really hot and we were carrying bags filled with camcorders, cameras and snorkeling stuff. My mother at 66 didn’t like the walk but we made it. Our horseback ride was for 12:00 noon island time by the time the cab took us to the wrong location and we walked back it was about 12:10 when we arrived. We met Nina as we were instructed to and had a seat and waited. She told us to wait while she got a snorkel tour out, this is done and we are still waiting some people come and another snorkel tour goes out. We ended up missing the 12:00 tour and didn’t get out till about 1:30 p.m. I wish we knew this at first this way we could of shopped a little and looked around instead of just sitting there. The ride was 90 minutes and we went through town and along the beach. There were only 5 horses total. My mother ended up not going, I guess she got a little afraid of the horse. There was a family of 4 on 3 horses and a mother and daughter on one and me.There was 2 guides that walk the trail with us. It was lots of fun and I’m glad I did it and would do it again.

 

After the ride we walked down the road in town and went to Tarpus Bar on the beach. I got a chicken fajita and a margarita for I think $12.00 total, $7.00 for the fajita and $5.00 for the drink. We went over to the beach area and sat at a table with chairs. This was nice and relaxing. I went in the water and tried to snorkel, it wasn’t good in this area but the swimming was nice. We stayed till we gave ourselves just enough time to see the folklore show and return to the ship in time. We enjoyed the folklore show nice free entertainment. I did get a yard rainbow margarita on the way back to the ship and I was able to walk on the ship with it in my hand. Boy was it good!

 

Cozumel: This is where the “fun†began! It started the evening before at the show that night our cruise director informed us there has been a change in what he reported to us on our first night. We were first told that we would dock in the am and then would need to tender in the afternoon. Then on Wed. evening he informed us there has been a change and we would need to tender both ways. I’m okay with this we didn’t really have a problem in Grand Cayman so I’m thinking it would be the same.

 

Well, I was wrong for sure. We get up and had breakfast real early due to we docked in Cozumel at 7 am so this means our alarm clock was set for 5:30 am. So we go down to get the tender about 8:00 am. I think it was when they announce we were clear to get off the ship. First we went to deck 3 where we got off in GC and was informed to go to deck 4., no problem we go and there’s a long line we join. We ended up in the hall of deck 4 with rooms on both sides of us with no airflow for over 2 hours, yes that’s right this is not a type-o 2 hours plus we waited in that hall. About an hour or so into our wait we hear an announcement that a tender had mechanical problems and that was the delay. I work in transportation and I understand that and we went with the flow and were off the ship by 10:30 a.m.

 

We walked through the liquor store and then the shopping area to get where the cabs where. We ended up docking at Purta Langasta or something like that pier where Senior Frogs and Carlos and Charlie’s are. There were lots of shops in this area and you can make a deal with prices. I ended up getting a turquoise bracelet and slider pendant necklace for a total of $105.00 which is a great deal!!!! The bracelet alone started out at $65.00 and the necklace at $75.00, I was very happy with this purchase. We didn’t do anymore shopping we weren’t in Cozumel to shop. I know many do but I can shop at home and I like to do things on vacation I can’t do here in NY.

 

We get a cab to Cincos Del Sol. I can’t remember the price of the cab. This was the only store we planned to shop at. I figured from all I read we could get just about everything we wanted in Cozumel here for a decent price and we were right. I got a three pack of hot sauce and a bottle of dark vanilla. My mother got some nice perfume, cd’s and hot sauce and I can’t remember what else. We had gotten a coupon on the ship for a free black coral wind chime if we spent t over $25.00. We split our order up into two both over $25.00 so we both got a wind chime. I haven’t had time to open it yet so I can’t tell you want it is like.

 

Shopping completed we get another cab to Chankanaab Park. I had booked the sea lion swim package # 1 for $59.00 pp, it included park admission, the sea lion show and the swim. There was a long line to enter the park but we got to walk up to the Dolphin Discovery booth cause our tour was paid for already. This is a big park we didn’t have time to do half of what I wanted to do. We went straight to sign in for the swim cause the time was close for our swim.

 

The nice thing is the sea lion show was just starting so we got right in and didn’t waste any time waiting or backtracking to see it. The show is nice, try to sit to the left if you’re standing on stage that’s where the shade is.

 

After the show we had just a little time before our swim. I went to the lagoon area and got wet to cool off, it felt good after sitting in the sun for the show. The lagoon area was packed, as was the snorkeling area too.

 

We arrive at the sea lion area for our swim. They broke us up into 2 groups. I really enjoyed this and I would do it again. We were giving life vests and sat on the pool edge while the 2 sea lions did some flips and stuff in front of us. Then we all got in the water and the sea lion swam back and forth while we got to feel her and pet her. Then one person at a time goes into the center and the sea lion kisses you and then it goes into your arms and you’re holding it and of course they take pictures, which we bought, they came out great!

 

After that a couple at a time goes up and the sea lion jumps over our arms, turns around and does it again in the opposite direction. All this time they are taping the whole experience and again of course we bought the tape. The total for 4 pictures and I need to add nice and really well done big pictures and a VHS tape was $85.00. We loved this and would do it again.

 

Now with the things we paid for in advance done we head over to the snorkel area I really wanted to snorkel some more. We stopped at a restaurant on the way and had a nice meal at a good price. I had a Mexican Platter for I think $11.00 and it was good!

 

Okay now we are full and I go and rent a vest we couldn’t find a chair to sit in anywhere. My mother sat on a beach where I rented the vest and waited there while I went in the water, we didn’t have much time before we had to head back to the ship. There were a lot of fish all colors. I went out to the platform and then swam around the coral. I took lots of pictures with my water camera, I hope they come out good. I will find out next week.

 

We went to the fresh water shower to rinse off and we are back out and we got right on a cab. They are there waiting for you. The cab ride was $10.00 each way.

 

We arrive back at the cab area like 4:00 p.m. and our last tender is 5:00 p.m. I had thought about the necklace and bracelet I got and had decided on the way back I wanted the earrings to match too. I went to the same store and got the earrings for $30.00. Yeah I was happy. Then I remembered I wanted to get retin-A. I find where the drug store is and it’s back where we were. My mother couldn’t walk it so she sat and waited and I ran back got the retin-A $11.50 each and then ran back to make the tender. Got two bottles of liquor in the shop you walk through to get to the tender area.

 

We arrive in the tender line at 4:30 p.m. and it was a really long line. We were happy we weren’t late for the last tender. Little did we know at that time, I didn’t need to run back and forth to the drug store and that we actually had 3 hours more we could have enjoyed Cozumel and shopped. We were in line between two really nice families, this made the wait not as bad. It gets to be 5:30 p.m. and the sun is started to get to everyone still not one tender showed up.

 

Now as we are honest people waiting in line we saw many, many passengers with Carnival towels just walk right pass the end of the line to the front. The line never really got much longer it just got wider. At 4:30 p.m. we were at the end of the line and at 7:00 p.m. we were still at the end of the line. Okay it’s now 6:00 and still no tender showed up since we got in line at 4:30. Then we see a tender coming around the corner we were excited, hot, thrusty and sun burnt. Our excitement suddenly ended when we realized we weren’t going to make it on this tender this was due to everyone that cut in the line that arrive after we did. Then we see a smaller tender coming in behind that one and we thought we would get on this one for sure, didn’t happen!! Even security was letting people cut into the line they were telling them too. They needed Disney people there for line control! LOL. This would never happen in a Disney line.

 

Now we know we have at least another hour plus wait cause that what we were told it took the tender the last trip. You can just image how we felt at this point. There was no water anywhere, the sun was beating down on us and by now our sunscreen was long gone. Our feet were killing us. The young children behind us just laid down on the cement they were so tried and the young girl in front of us starting crying, she was about 7 years old. My mother at 66 could not get down Indian style like many of the adults that could did. I didn’t do it either cause she couldn’t. At about 7:15 p.m. we see the tender rounding the corner everyone just started yelling and clapping we all knew we would get on this tender. I would guess there was about 150 to 200 people that were left behind for the last tender at 7:15 p.m. which arrive at the Inspiration at 7:30 p.m. At this point the staff was waiting with trays of water as we entered the ship we downed like 2-3 of them real quick. I as many others were concerned about dinner. We were told as we entered the ship to just get ready and go to the dining room. I guess even before we arrived they announced that it would be open seating tonight.

 

We were so glad to be back on the ship. We enjoyed our day in Cozumel but wasted 5 hours on our valuable vacation time waiting in lines to get off and on the ship. While we waited I got sunburn real bad on my nose and got the hard sores on it. My mother got her lips burnt real bad it’s still bothering her as of today a week after our ordeal.

 

Carnival gave everyone on the ship a $25.00 pp ship credit and had a 45 minute open bar on Sat. Now my mother doesn’t drink so this meant nothing to her. I appreciate that and I’m not complaining, at least they did something. I just think something more should have been done for the 150 to 200 people that had to wait for that very last tender. I did call Carnival and voiced my concerns very nicely. I don’t like to complain cause in my business (transportation) this is all I get all day, so I don’t like to do it to anyone else. They will send me a 10% coupon off my next cruise. CCL does this for every little minor complaint they receive and I think our situation was a little bigger then some I read that got a 10% off coupon. My main concern is that this doesn’t happen on another cruise to other passengers and that’s exactly what I told CCL and they ensured me that it wouldn’t happen again.

 

I’m trying to get the rest of the report posted, I’m rushing it now so please forgive any type-o and mistakes. I’m leaving tomorrow right after work to drive to Maryland (6 hrs) for my grand daughters 3rd b-day. I was hoping to get it all posted before I leave for the weekend. It’s been along week at work.

 

Belize: We arrive in Belize an hour later then scheduled. I guess this was due to leaving Cozumel so late. We still had to be back on the ship the same time in the afternoon, so we lost one hour in Belize. All the ship tours were a half hour later then scheduled. I had decided early on in my research that this was the one port we would do a Carnival excursion. After what happened yesterday I was glad that we booked with CCL today. Some of our tablemates, two couples cancelled their cave tubing tour with CCL due to what happened and they didn’t want any stress today. We decided to stick with our original plans.

 

Was up early and ready to go, grabbed a quick bagel or danish and we were off for our river/ruins adventure. There was no wait, we met at the designated time and went right to the tenders. These are fast tenders you dock 5 miles from Belize. It was so foggy that we couldn’t see our ship after only a few minutes. There was only one other ship in Belize that day, sitting in the fog I couldn’t tell which ship it was.

 

We arrive at the pier area we were quickly led into boats and were split into two groups. We were so lucky to get the river part of the tour first. Our tour guides were even saying it was hot this day.

 

Originally I wanted to do the cave tubing but I knew my mother wouldn’t do that, for a few reason, the walk, carrying the tube and being in the caves. My second choice was the River Wallace and Altun Ha Ruins tour. I’m so glad we went on this tour we had a blast.

 

The boats start down the river and we saw lots of wildlife on this tour. First we saw the manatees. I started to camcorder them but remember the fog I talked about it was too much for my camcorder. I even used the advice from the board and had it in a big zip lock back and I didn’t open it for a while. The good news is a little over half way down the river it did start back up. Last year it did the same thing first day of cruise but never came back on till we got back home, maybe the bag did help.

 

We also saw crocodiles a baby one and a large one, bats, howler monkeys, a blue heron bird, I think that’s what it was called in it’s nest we got real close it was great. A special treat we got to see were dolphins, our guide said they don’t usually see them. I think there was 4-6 of them swimming in pairs. Of course at this point my camcorder wasn’t working yet. Down the river from where we saw the crocodiles we saw children swimming in the river. Our guides said that they don’t remember an incident with a crocodile attaching a child. We saw lots of local homes along the river too. We were on the river for 2 ½ hours. Really enjoyed this part of the tour.

 

We get off the boat in a small area with a little shopping and we were able to purchase a chicken and rice meal for $5.00. I got just the rice and salad and it was good. I bought a really nice wood craved bowl for a gift also.

 

Then we got on a nice AC couch bus and drove I think 45 minutes to the ruins. The guides were very good and gave us lots of details on Belize. Gas in Belize is $4.00 per gal US money and most make $1.25 Belize money per hour, this is even for teachers, nurses, police and tour guides. We had about one hour I think at the ruins which was plenty of time. I climbed one of the ruins and it was a great feeling. Boy, was it hot up there.

 

Small shops are set up to shop at. Just a little tip here, at one shop they had the baskets from the National Handicraft Center in Belize, don’t buy them here. The same baskets they wanted $40.00 for I got for $25.00 at the center.

 

We got a drink before getting on the bus and learned more info on Belize from the guides and some relaxed and others like me enjoyed seeing the local countryside. We arrived back at the pier area about ½ hour before last tender.

 

We passed the National Handicraft Center on the way to the pier. I walked to the NHC while my mother waited at the pier, it was a few blocks away and it was hot. I made it there and back with a few minutes to spare. I got a total of four baskets two for me and two for gifts they are very nicely made.

 

Today was nothing like yesterday, there was water available at the pier area while waiting for the tenders. We got right on a tender that was waiting for us, what a difference from Cozumel.

 

Judy

RCCL Voyager 5/21-5/30/04

CCL Inspiration 4/4-4/11/04

NCL Sea 4/14-4/27/03

DCL Wonder 5/16-5/19/02

DCL Wonder 5/3-5/8/01

CCL Fantasy 2/15-2/18/01

 

[cubsr#1]

We've snorkeled our way through the entire Caribbean and Cozumel is by far the best. I've snorkeled there 5 times and each time we've seen turtles, barracuda, groupers, twice even a nurse shark along with countless smaller fish, As an earlier poster said - the Fury catamaran tour was fabulous. I wouldn't hesitate to book with them again.

 

GC - stingray city hands down!